At the Heart of Evil
by griZzlyAngel
Summary: "She felt a chill slink up her spine when their gazes met... Among his various physical attributes, it was his eyes that struck her most. They were cold and they were black like coal while they held her own wholesome chestnut brown ones... They burned through her mercilessly, like that of some sort of dark god and she immediately feared for her very soul..." Michael/OC


_Author's Note: _Okay, hello everyone! This is my first Halloween fanfic! (claps hands) Yeah, anywho, not much to say about it. You'll just have to read it and see what you think. It's based off of the original John Carpenter movie and those following it, no Zombie here, sorry. :( I wanted to make a somewhat decent Halloween story featuring an OC romance, so I will appreciate it to get actual critiques here, NOT FLAMES! Let me repeat: ONLY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Mkay? Good.

Disclaimer: Halloween and all its related characters belong to John Carpenter. Except my OCs. Those are mine. So don't steal them, please. Thank you. :)

* * *

Prologue

* * *

_May 19th, 1974_

_Wensworth, Illinois_

* * *

"Blow them out already, Ellie! We ain't getting any younger here!"

"Okay, okay! Keep your pants on, Jerry."

The little brunette leaned forward on the table, causing it to jerk unsteadily, gulped in as much air as she could before her cheeks burst from pressure, then _whoosh! _blew it onto the twenty-two flickering candles.

"Still amazes me how you managed to fit all those on there, Sis." Jerry commented smartly, scooping a hunk of chocolate frosting onto his right index finger.

His hand was slapped away from the cake by his elder sister, causing the frosting to fly off his fingertip and onto the tiled floor of the dining room.

"Hey! What the hell?" he cried in shock.

"Don't you know any better?" she scowled at him, bringing down a large kitchen knife upon the cake. "The birthday girl gets the first taste!"

"For fuck's sakes, Lisa, I'm eighteen not _twelve!"_

"Exactly." the blond smirked to herself, slicing a clean piece.

She laid it on a paper plate and handed it to Ellie.

"Happy birthday, Sunshine."

The shorter woman giggled and accepted the slice with a soft 'thank you'.

"And congratulations on finally landing your dream career!" Jerry added, eying the second piece that Lisa was cutting.

Lisa glanced over at her little sister proudly. "Yeah, you finally made it."

"The big times," Ellie smiled, pouring out four glasses of milk. "Say, where's Billy?"

"On the toilet most likely," Lisa muttered, handing her brother the new slice. "I'll go get him. You just sit here and enjoy yourself!"

The oldest of the three siblings made up a few more plates of cake before hunting down her five year old son. Ellie made up a spot for each and every one of them, then took her seat with Jerry, who was already scarfing down his piece of double chocolate cake with gusto.

"I hope you don't expect me to give you the heimlich maneuver if you happen to choke on that crap." she said while giving him a mildly disgusted frown.

The younger man gave her a thumbs up, continuing to inhale whatever was left of the dessert.

"Here he is!" Lisa announced dramatically, returning from her journey through the house. "Found him torturing the cat in the bedroom. Poor Lulu."

"Lulu's a royal bitch," Jerry spat bitterly between bites."Good boy, Billy!"

Billy was not paying attention to his uncle whatsoever; his large blue eyes were glued to the cake at the center of the dining table.

"Come sit by me, Billy." Ellie pulled out the chair beside her and patted it.

The five year old left his mother's grip, hurried over and climbed up into the chair, slapping his chubby palms on the tabletop.

"Don't do that, Billy!" Lisa scolded sitting down as well.

"Where's mine?" he asked no one in specific, ignoring his mother.

"Right here. Eat up, Bud!" Jerry slid a slice on a plate over to the boy.

"Say your prayer first, Billy." his mother reminded just as the child was going to dig in.

Jerry snorted, slugging down the last of his milk.

Lisa shot him a heated look. "Something you want to say, Jerry?"

The youngest of the three siblings put his empty glass down, licked his lips and shook his head, though he looked ready to burst out laughing.

"Are you sure?" Lisa pressed, cheeks reddening.

"No, actually," he stood and took his dishes to the sink. "The cake was fantastic. Orgasmic even!"

Now it was Ellie who snorted, bits of the chocolate cake escaping her mouth and flying across the table. Jerry saw her and bit back a huge grin. The eldest was not impressed.

"Smart ass." Lisa grumbled, breaking a chunk of her homemade cake onto her fork.

Jerry rolled the damp kitchen towel up tightly, giving the cupboards a loud snap with it. The two women and the boy all jumped at the sharp sound simultaneously. Lisa threw him a deadly stare, chewing her cake slowly. The young man tossed the towel away, no longer hiding his mirth.

"Sorry."

"You better be." Lisa growled, turning away from him.

He leaned on the countertop, watching the back of her fluffy, platinum head.

"You know I _was _being serious about the cake? It was delicious."

"Whatever," she mumbled, her attention focused more on her son now. "Billy, slow down! You're going to get indigestion eating like that!"

Jerry sighed exasperatedly behind her, rubbing his face in the palms of his hands.

"Really, Lisa? Indigestion?"

Lisa's head turned to him again, her brow raised to the heavens.

"Yes, _really, _Jerry. Have you never heard of it?"

"Let the kid be a damned kid, for Christ's sake!" he blew up, eyes bulging.

"Says the immature uncle!" she pointed her fork directly at her brother. "Listen, Jerry, how's about _I _stay out of _your _business and _you _stay out of _mine?!"_

"Huh, yeah right! _You _stay out of _my _business? That'll be the fucking day."

"Could you _please _not swear around my son? He's already picked up more than enough of your bad habits, I don't need him throwing F-bombs next."

"Like you don't throw them yourself!"

"Jerry, he's _my _son. When you have yours one day, then you can raise him however you'd like."

"I'm never having kids." the eighteen year old stated flatly, scratching the back of his shaggy head.

"Regardless, leave me to do the parenting. Understand?"

"Sure, _Mom."_

That had done it for Lisa, Ellie knew right then and there. She sighed wearily as her big sister slammed her hands on the table, making it shake violently, for she'd predictd this fight fifteen minutes beforehand.

"Goddamnit, Jerry!" the blond woman exploded. "Stop acting like a fucking little prick!"

"Speaking of F-bombs! Better watch that potty mouth of yours, Sis." Jerry scoffed, walking out of the kitchen and into the next room.

Lisa was practically breathing fire at this point. She shoved herself back from the table and stood up roughly, hollering after their brother, red-faced.

"Jerry! I swear to God!"

Billy, whose mouth was covered in chocolate, observed the scene with apathy. He'd obviously witnessed such firey exchanges between his mother and uncle some previous time. Ellie smiled sadly, scooting closer to her nephew.

"Here, Billy, let me see your face." she said calmly, a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere of the household.

"Why?" he turned jerkily to her, licking his tiny fingers.

The woman had to bite back a giggle at his adorable oblivious nature.

"Just hold still, you have some chocolate on you." she held his chin with her left hand, brought up a clean napkin with her right and proceeded to clean the frosting off his puckered lips.

"He'll get his. Just wait and see. It'll be double-fold too!" Lisa muttered, gathering her stuff to wash at the sink.

Ellie simply nodded and responded in a low, soothing tone whilst wiping Billy's filthy mouth.

"Don't worry about him, Lisa. He's only trying to get you going. As he always does..."

"Ha! _Trying? _I'd say he already _has!" _

"Yes, well, you need to get over it. Jerry is a natural-born instigator. He's never going to change."

"Neither am I." Lisa retorted stubbornly.

"Of course you're not. I would not expect you to. For your health alone though, I'd say you should consider meditation."

Lisa stopped short and whipped around, the faucet running noisily onto the dirty glasses and utensils in the sink behind her.

"Are you mocking me, Ariel?" she asked quietly.

"No! You need to stop being so paranoid, Lisa! I was being one hundred percent serious," Ellie insisted. "Meditation is a proven method of relaxation and a surefire remedy to everyday stresses and anger, both of which you have a lot of-"

"I am _not _going to fucking meditate, Ariel!"

The younger of the two women closed her mouth tight, eyes showing the smallest glimmer of the frustration she felt within.

"I'm done! Aunt Ellie, stop!" Billy whined suddenly, breaking the brewing silence in the kitchen.

The little boy was beating her hand away from his face, having had quite enough of being cleaned up. His aunt's piercing cocoa eyes drifted from his mother's brilliant blues to him and she came to her senses.

"Yes, yes, okay!" she snapped, releasing the boy. "Go and torture Lulu some more."

Billy, mirroring his mother's actions from a few minutes earlier, shoved himself back from the table and hopped down from the chair, bounding off into the next room, giggling madly.

"While you're at it, torture your uncle too!" Lisa called to her son.

With a forced exhale, Ellie got to her fet and busied herself with collecting all of the remaining trash on the table, ignoring her sister's burning stare. It wasn't until she finally dared to look up and face her that Lisa opened her mouth to speak.

"You know I love you, Ellie, right?"

The younger woman stood still for a moment, holding her gaze, then nodded slowly.

"Yeah...?"

"I know you hate it when I always yell at or disagree with you. It's not you, Hon, I just... I have some personal issues I'm still working out."

"Are you referring to Alan?"

Lisa visibly stiffened at the name and inclined her head ever so slightly to affirm her baby sister's blunt inquiry. Ellie sucked in her bottom lip, knowing she'd touched on a sensitive topic.

"Sorry, Lisa..." she murmured, passing her to throw the collection of garbage away.

The blond shook her head, grabbing the brunette's shoulder to turn her towards her.

"Don't be. Like I said yesterday, 'I'm open to everything, so lay it on me!'"

Ellie's mouth twitched upward into a small smile.

"So how has he been with you? Better, worse, the same?" she questioned further.

Lisa rolled her eyes, sighing heavily.

"The same."

"I don't get why you stay with him!"

"Because, even though he's an asshole, I love him and he loves me. You know, when I met him back in high school, and he was going through all of that shit with his mother-"

"Wasn't she a stripper or something?" Ellie interrupted.

"A prostitute," Lisa corrected casually. "Well, anyway, when we met and I found out about his crappy life, I knew then and there I wanted to help him have a better one. I promised him I would never leave him, no matter how tough things got. I made a promise, Ellie. I loved him then and I love him now, perhaps even more. As much as I complain about him, I don't think I could ever bear to be without him. Is that crazy of me?"

"Well, as long as he never hurts you... Mentally or physically..."

Lisa shook her head vigorously, squeezing Ellie's shoulders.

"He'd never do anything to intentionally harm me... Not that I ever would let him."

Ellie frowned grimly at her. "I hope not."

Lisa laughed, pinching her little sister's right cheek.

"Do you really have to do that, Lisa?" Ellie sighed.

"Hey, I don't care how old you get, you'll always be my baby sister."

"Oh, please."

Lisa grinned warmly, bringing in Ellie for a quick hug against her will.

"Come on, Birthday Girl!" she twirled the younger woman around and pushed her into the living room. "I'd say it's time to make a celebration pile on top of our pansy brother, wouldn't you?"

* * *

It was about two in the morning when everyone had finally settled down, except for Billy, who'd been asleep for over three hours now, having crashed from his mega sugar rush early on. Since Alan was gone tonight, Lisa had allowed Billy to sleep with her in their bed, so the two of them were tucked away in the master bedroom of the house, while Jerry had passed out on the sofa in the living room and Ellie was occupying Billy's room. Even though she was exhausted, Ellie could not find sleep easily that night, for whatever reason. She thought perhaps she was on a high still from the excitement of the day before: between getting hired at the state sanitarium and her birthday. The former weighed heaviest on her mind. All through high school and college she bragged about psychology, often showing off how talented she was at the subject, whether it being consistently acing exams or writing twenty-paged papers on one disorder or another. Her teachers often wondered why she did not go longer and become a full-fledged therapist instead of a less-paid nurse. Truth be told, Ellie would like to continue her schooling in the future and achieve this goal someday, but for now she just wanted a secure, decent-paying career so that she could actually afford a new car and move into a safer apartment complex much sooner. Besides, as long as she was exposed to the environment she would only gain more experience and understanding for the area that she so loved, which is what mattered most.

The thing that concerned her is of how well she'd do with the real deal. Would she be able to handle it? These were people she'd be truly interacting with, not pages in books.

Breathing in and out meditatively, Ellie clutched the pillow under her head.

"Stop it! You're going to do great, Ellie. Think positive. Think positive. Everything is going to be all right." she spoke in a whisper to herself in the dark bedroom.

Trying to get her mind off of her worries, the woman rolled over, causing the bed to squeak beneath her, and decided to focus on the street outside the window. It was darker than usual out there due to the thick overcast in the sky. Winkle Drive was lit by a few orange-hued street lamps and whatever the other houses had hooked up. It was a quiet neighborhood, even with the numerous children that lived there and Ellie liked it that way. Just like the old neighborhood she, Lisa and Jerry had been brought up in. Not like the place where she resided at present. There was always some sort of riot going on there and break-ins everytime she turned around. Kids ran amok unattended, smoking, swearing, making gangs. And this was only ten minutes from here! The only thing that kept her coming back to that nasty one-roomed apartment was her best friend, Jill. Thinking about Jill, Ellie wondered how she was doing tonight alone. She'd missed her being here for her birthday, but excused her to go visit her brother in the hospital. He'd gotten into a car accident a night ago. Drunk driving. Ellie couldn't say she felt sorry for him. He'd brought it upon himself after all. The person she pitied was the woman he'd hit, who fortunately survived unscathed. Jill loved her brother dearly, even though he was never there when she needed him. The poor girl had been through so much in her young life, from never knowing her real mother, to being beaten and raped by her father, to being constantly deserted by her brother and just recently her five-year-running boyfriend. Once he'd discovered Jill was pregnant with his baby, he'd flown from that scene like a bat out of hell. The only stability she ever had was with Ellie and her family, which is why Ellie felt so entitled to be there for her. Especially now that she was a single mother. If not for Ellie, Lisa and Jerry pitching money in, she'd be either homeless or on wellfare at this point.

The street lamp in front of the house flickered and went out just then, pulling Ellie from her churning thoughts. She blinked, yawned and glanced over at Billy's Yogi Bear themed alarm clock. It was five minutes to three.

She sighed, turning in the opposite direction so that her back faced the window now.

Nuzzling the side of her face into the pillow, Ellie blinked a few more times before finally closing her eyes and dozing off into a deep slumber.

"Hello, Mr. Sandman..." she breathed, smiling peacefully.


End file.
